A Turkish aircraft conducting a reconnaissance flight over Aegean international airspace was harassed by Greek F-16s five times, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) announced on Tuesday.
A CN-235 aircraft was harassed by Greek fighter jets for two minutes and 37 seconds while the radar lock of the Greek air defense system was kept on.
In a previous incident, four F4-E/2020 Phantoms were put under radar lock by Greece's Patriot missile defense system twice, for 15 seconds each time, at 3:20 p.m. Turkish time on Dec. 23. The jet fighters were on a training flight in international waters off Greece's Ikaria Island in the Aegean, the military said.
Media reports quoted military sources as saying this was the first time that Turkish military aircraft were threatened by Greece's long-range missile defense system. The military has also reportedly notified the Foreign Ministry about the incident.
Turkish and Greek warplanes have engaged in dogfights over the Aegean many times in the past but Greece has never activated its missile defense system against Turkish aircraft.
Turkey and Greece are at odds over boundaries of their airspace due to a long-running territorial dispute over the Aegean.
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